HOW NEW CASES ARE FALLING IN MANY AREAS OF UK
Is the state of our social and health care system a national scandal?
A RETIRED fire officer said he felt ashamed to be in the service after crews failed to help casualties at the Manchester Arena bombing.
Alan Topping, a duty command support officer on the night, told a public inquiry that specialists who could have treated and moved the injured got there too late.
The first fire engine did not arrive until two hours after the explosion on May 22 2017 triggered by suicide bomber Salman Abedi. He slaughtered 22 people and injured hundreds at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.
Mr Topping said: “We didn’t respond and we didn’t do our jobs to make a difference. It took me a couple of days to put my shirt back on, such was the strength of my feelings.”
He explained he was not even aware of the blast at 10.31pm until he received a call from his control room more than a hour later which informed him of “loads of casualties” and reports of a gunman.
On his return from dealing with a mill fire in Stockport, Mr Topping assumed colleagues were at the Arena and expected “something like 10 to 12 pumps with specialist teams would have attended with lots of officers”. He was “shocked” on his arrival at about 12.25am when he saw five fire engines “with a lot of firefighters hanging around, some lying down”. Mr Topping told Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, there was “a lot of anger, upset, confusion” among crews who were impatient at being kept
away from the scene. A firefighter recalled a paramedic “came over crying, pleading with us to help. Her exact words were, ‘What are you doing just stood around here? There are people dying, we need your help’.”
She added: “I’ve just taken an 18-year-old girl in the ambulance who died on route to hospital and you lot are just stood around.”
Mr Topping told the inquiry that senior colleagues said bosses were not allowing them to attend.
The inquiry heard previously that none of the blue light services met at a rendezvous
point response.
Mr Topping agreed with John Cooper QC, representing bereaved families, that important resources and services were wasted.
Mr Cooper asked if it was correct that “many, if not all” firefighters turned their back on a senior officer when he was unable to explain the lack of response at a debriefing shortly after the attack.
Mr Topping said: “People showed their emotions differently whether it was turning away, walking away, people were crying. I have never seen firefighters crying at a to plan a debrief. Firefighters and officers felt such shame, disappointment about why we didn’t attend to help people.
“I felt ashamed to be a firefighter and I felt like we had let the people of Greater Manchester down. We were there to help and we didn’t do our job. I just feel so sad we didn’t attend for the families.” On his retirement in September he still felt coordination between the city’s emergency services had not improved sufficiently.
The public inquiry, which is looking at events before, during and after the arena bombing, continues.
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SOME £14billion must be pumped into the crisis-hit social care system over the next two years, a group of MPs has insisted.
The politicians said the massive injection of cash is necessary to protect pensioners and rescue the sector.
A survey of 96 cross-party MPs and 520 councillors in England found that two-thirds believe the sum is needed.
The verdict was released ahead of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget today.
A quarter of MPs believe amount should be even higher, study found.
A third agreed that social care reform now needs to be prioritised ahead of other policies.
The poll was conducted by Health For Care, a coalition of 15 health organisations led by the NHS Confederation.
A Health For Care spokesman said “urgent and radical reform and significant investment” is now needed to fix the social care sector.
Half of those questioned believe the sector should be funded by a new collective funding mechanism, like the the
NO: 0901 133 4441 No text DXNO to 84988 income tax or national insurance. Almost two-thirds believe it should receive an extra £7billion a year, in line with recommendations from the Health and Social Care Committee. Danny Mortimer, chairman of the coalition and chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “Decades of delay and inertia have left the social care system chronically underfunded and in desperate need of reform.
“As we slowly and cautiously ease out of the Covid emergency, we cannot delay this a moment longer. “It’s clear that the tragedy of Covid has helped to cement a consensus in both Parliament and local government that urgent action is needed to fix social care.
“There is also clear crossparty support for additional resources for the sector and the need for a long-term financial and workforce plan.
“The NHS and social care work side by side. When one service does not work, the other suffers. “The pandemic has served to shine a stark light on how fragile and severely under-resourced the country’s care system has become.”
The NHS Confederation will publish a report setting out the full findings later this week.
As many as 35,000 elderly care home residents have died during the pandemic after Covid swept through homes.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said: “We all recognise that the social care system needs long-term reform and adequate funding both for its own sake and for the sake of the NHS.
“For the NHS to function effectively it is essential that social care is also functioning effectively in parallel.”
Social care includes residential care for frail pensioners who can no longer cope in their own home, but also help with washing, dressing and other everyday tasks to enable them to stay at home longer.
Fiona Carragher, director of research at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “We need a system fit for purpose and free at point of use, like the NHS and education, providing quality care for every person with dementia who needs it.”
The Health For Care findings were published as MPs on the Health and social
Social Care Committee interviewed experts about a Government NHS White Paper yesterday.
Chairman Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary, questioned the replacement of the current Clinical Commissioning Groups with a new system of Integrated Care Services.
This aims to provide more “joinedup care” across all NHS and social care sectors. Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust health think tank, said: “A lot of the changes planned have already happened.This is not a big bang change.”
The Government said it is committed to social care reform and will set out proposals later this year. A spokeswoman said: “It’s crucial the care sector has the staff it needs both now and in the future, which is why we are running a national recruitment campaign – Care For Others, Make A Difference – to support providers to recruit into care roles.
“Delivering a care system that is fit for the future remains a top priority and we will bring forward proposals for social care reform later this year.
“That’s alongside the billions in additional funding we’ve provided to the sector, including over £1.4billion for adult social care, free PPE and increased staff testing to help protect staff and residents.”
‘Covid has cemented a consensus that urgent action is needed’